Saturday, April 4, 2020. (today’s lectionary)
Thus says the LORD GOD, I will take the children and gather them from all sides, make them one nation. And there shall be one prince for them all. Never again two kingdoms, no longer defiling themselves with idols. I will live with them, and they shall be my people. (Ezekiel 37) … He scattered and now he gathers, and the Lord will guard as a shepherd. We will be gladdened after our sorrows …
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie … but Tolkien’s story, and his land of Middle Earth, all this comes later, as the evil force misrepresenting THE LORD GOD, the dark lord utterly unlike God our Father, tells his minions, “We need one ring, one ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. Oh, no, that is not the way of God is it? Jesus does not lead us into that dark land with slippery lies or winks or false witness. But Jesus, Jesus IS the one. Is he not coming?
But after Lazarus is raised, Jesus slipped out into the desert, until his Kairos time has come. Conniving, ambitious, political Caiaphas, high priest only for one short year, speaks infamous words in the furor over Jesus the man who raises people from the dead. “It is better that one man should die than the whole nation to perish.”And the posses rush out in search of Jesus, rush to catch him and bring him in to justice.
O Caiaphas, you don’t trust your God! Can’t you read the psalms? What is wrong with you? Is your imagination altogether dead? Nothing changes your mind. Your old and crusty mental filters are rusted into place. Jesus is alive, and you want to kill him. He is your shepherd, and you refuse to be led. You will not give up your tenuous position,  you silly old man.
We call these next few days Holy Week. Holy how? Gangs are searching for Jesus. The higher-ups are whispering about him among themselves. The powers that be fear for their position, and seem willing to ignore the will of the people to keep their place.
Holy how this coming week? Solemn marches up church aisles, palm fronds swinging, children singing, settling old scores and seeking new forgiveness. We have always set this week apart, Holy Week, to honor Jesus. Passover is nigh. But like the men and women of Jerusalem we are asking, “What do you think? Will he come to the feast?”
Surely Jesus the rabbi, our hero, our healer, Jesus the preacher of all good things will arrive to celebrate this holiday with us.
And sure enough, he does. But we must wait till tomorrow to hear that story.
#
